Auslan: First Language Learner F–10 Sequence / Levels 9 and 10 / Understanding / Language variation and change
Content description
Investigate and analyse the nature of and community attitudes to variation in the use of Auslan
Elaborations
recognising that there is a greater degree of flexibility and variability in ‘oral’, face-to-face languages such as Auslan compared to spoken/written languages passed on from parents to children, for example, less standardisation and minimal ‘frozen texts’, and considering reasons for such differences
researching different aspects of variation in the use of Auslan, considering influences such as geographical location, social groupings, history, educational experience, age of learning, family background and contact with Signed English or other languages
debating the merits and disadvantages of creating a standard form of Auslan, for example the benefits of mutual comprehensibility versus the practical problems involved in who decides on the standard and how to get signers to comply
considering the effect that expanding sign language interpreter services might have on standardising Auslan, especially in the areas of education and medicine
noticing ways people might adapt language according to situation of use, such as when signing to a large audience, the use of one hand or two, clarity of sign production, size of signing space, pace, NMFs, pauses and amount of fingerspelling
considering how Auslan has been influenced by the use of Signed English in education settings (especially from the 1970s to the 1990s) and cultural attitudes towards Signed English
